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Do you live in one of the most dangerous cities in Vermont?

We all watch the news and see reports on Facebook of the latest crimes that happen in our hometowns. But it can be hard to tell at a big picture level how dangerous our town actually is.

No one wants to feel unsafe, and statistically speaking, odds are that where you live is most likely relatively safe. In order to help the good people of Vermont — and anyone looking to move to Vermont — know just how close they are to danger, we took data from the annual FBI report and did some serious analysis.

The data shows that these ten cities are currently the most dangerous in the Green Mountain State:

Why did St. Albans take the top spot? For the answer to this question and a detailed explanation of the data and analysis we used in creating this ranking, read on. Or learn more about the safest places in Vermont.

How we determined the most dangerous cities in Vermont for 2018?

Every year the FBI release two crime datasets, a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in the country, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.

For our analysis, we focused on the JUST released 2016 data, specifically the 2016 Crime In The United States Report. We will update the results when data becomes available for 2017 in October 2018.

So what criteria did we use? Have a look:

Violent Crimes Per Capita

Property Crimes Per Capita

In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered cities over 2,000 in population. That left us with 30 cities in Vermont.

We then ranked each city from 1 to 30 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.

Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.

Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in Vermont — St. Albans. Read on for a detailed look at the 10 most dangerous cities in Vermont.

Here’s a visualization of the criteria:

Click To Enlarge

Read on for a detailed look at the 10 most dangerous cities in Vermont.

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1. St. Albans

Population: 6,799 Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 573Property Crimes Per 100k: 6,603
St. Albans earns the top spot on this list mostly by having a terrible rate of property crime, with residents facing a ridiculously high 1 in 15.1 chance of being the victim of a property crime in 2016.

That means that, statistically, almost every neighborhood in St. Albans has at least one resident who’s the victim of theft or arson each year.

Don’t let the 1st place ranking for violence fool you either — for every 174 residents in St. Albans, there was 1 instance of violent crime in 2016, which is makes violence pretty darn common in St. Albans.

2. Brattleboro

Population: 11,607 Rank Last Year: 5 (Up 3)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 327Property Crimes Per 100k: 3,920
Located in southeastern Vermont, Brattleboro is Vermont’s 5th biggest town and 2nd most dangerous.

In recent years, the crime rate has changed dramatically in Brattleboro, for better and for worse.

On the one hand, instances of violent crime dropped between 2014-16, but on the other, a hike in property crime during this interval leaves Brattleboro as the town with the 3rd highest rate of property crime in Vermont.

3. Berlin

Source: Public Domain

Population: 2,802 Rank Last Year: N/AViolent Crimes Per 100k: 214Property Crimes Per 100k: 4,104
Located between Barre and Montpelier in central Vermont, Berlin’s recent explosion of crime makes it the second most dangerous place to live in the Green Mountain State.

Between 2014-16, both violent and property crime rates nearly tripled, leaving residents with a 1 in 467 chance of being the victim of a violent crime and a 1 in 24.4 chance of being the victim of a property crime in 2016.

If the trend continues, we can expect to see the town of Berlin top this list in a few years’ time.

4. Winooski

Population: 7,178Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 3)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 459Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,479
The largest city in Chittenden County, Winooski has experienced a 13% increase in its violent crime rate and a 19% rise in property crime rate between 2014-16.

Folks in Winooski had about a 1 in 40.3 chance of being robbed or burnt in 2016, which is just the heavy price you pay for living in Winooski.

5. Bennington

Population: 15,265 Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 3)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 242Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,417
Located in southwestern Vermont, Bennington is the 4th most populous and 5th most dangerous town in the state.

While property crime numbers remained stagnant between 2014-16, violent crime went up.

This rapid rise in violent crime only equates to folks having a 1 in 412 shot of being the victim of violence, but that’s still enough to land Bennington in the top ten most dangerous places to live in Vermont.

6. Montpelier

Population: 7,542Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 198Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,996
While Montpelier is a known speed trap with rigorous enforcement of speeding laws, it is also a relative hot bed for the occurrence of crime.

As the FBI aggregates crime data based on reporting from local municipalities, it wouldn’t surprise us if Montpelier ranks highly simply because the police department does an excellent job of reporting crimes that occur within its city limits.

Montpelier has the 8th most violent crimes in Vermont.

7. Hardwick

Population: 2,925 Rank Last Year: N/AViolent Crimes Per 100k: 136Property Crimes Per 100k: 2,119
Located in northern Vermont, Hardwick has fallen on some hard times in terms of its crime rate lately.

Instances of rape, murder, and assault quadrupled between 2014-16, and property crime went up by nearly 50%.

8. St. Johnsbury

Population: 7,414Rank Last Year: 14 (Up 6)Violent Crimes Per 100k: 161Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,982
St. Johnsbury was named the best small town by National Geographic in 2006, but a recent surge in crime may change the some observers’ perspectives.

Violent crime more than doubled between 2014-16, and property crime went up by 35%.

That means residents of St. Johnsbury had a 1 in 617 chance of being the victim of a violent crime and a 1 in 50.4 chance of being the victim of a property crime.

9. Newport

Population: 4,415Rank Last Year: N/AViolent Crimes Per 100k: 498Property Crimes Per 100k: 996
Just a short drive from Canada in the deep north of Vermont, Newport is the 9th most violent city in the state.

Both categories of crime have been going up in recent years, with a 15% increase in violent crime and a 19% rise in property crime between 2014-16.

Folks in Newport have about 1 violent crime per 200 residents.

10. Manchester

Population: 4,310 Rank Last Year: N/AViolent Crimes Per 100k: 162Property Crimes Per 100k: 1,809
With 78 property crimes reported in 2016 for a town of only 4,310, Manchester residents had a greater than 5% chance of being the victim of a property crime.

The good news? The number of crimes is down over 15% from the year prior.

Locking It All Up In Vermont

The latest FBI crime data shows that St. Albans ranks as the most dangerous city in Vermont for 2018.

However, there will be new data coming out later this year. At that point we can revisit St. Albans’s status — that is if they haven’t beaten us all up already.

THANK YOU! I can see from many of the other responses people have their heads right up their butts in there in complete denial. You are correct heroin is rampant in the skate heroin is used more widely in the state of Vermont than any other state in America per capita in these little redneck hillbillies have their heads pack so far up their butts they’re not going to realize if ever that they’re swirling in a downward spiral in that thing called the toilet

steph, go back to your french model, u r comment has indications of the possibility that you may be an idiot. BTW, when u compile your own statistics the counter these which probably paint Vermont too pretty, go ahead and post them on here until then you should keep your stupid comments to yourself.

Vermont according to the FBI crime index report is seeing a surge of property crime. Also Stephanie is correct on the heroine stat. Glad to see any counterpoint to her claim went unsubstantiated Ala insults.